Business week in review

In profit ...

Paul Tucker might have missed out on the top job at the Bank of England, but the deputy governor still manages to grab headlines with his hard-hitting ideas. On Monday, Mr Tucker and the US regulator, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, outlined the tough measures they will take should one of the top dozen banks on each side of the pond fail. Top managers would be fired and shareholders wiped out as Mr Tucker argued that "the 'too big to fail' problem simply must be cured".

Although the European Union is developing legislation to deal with the banks, the announcement shows that UK regulators must work with the US as their institutions operate so closely together.

On Wednesday, BHP Billiton's chief executive, Marius Kloppers, announced the $1.6bn (£1bn) sale of minority stakes in gas projects in Australia to PetroChina. The move helps the mining giant to cut costs, with development expenses Down Under on the up.

Also on Wednesday, Heathrow Airports Holdings' chief executive, Trevor Matthews, will have noted angry passengers at the airport after cancelling 60 flights due to heavy fog. Heathrow struggles as it operates at near full capacity.

... at a loss

Back in the late 1700s, Man Group would have been quite a fun place to work: Then, Man fuelled the Royal Navy by supplying the sailors' daily rum ration as they went off empire-building. With Peter Clarke at the helm, Man's own empire has been flagging. What is now the world's biggest listed hedge fund fell out of the FTSE 100 earlier this year, while Mr Clarke drew the ire of investors over what they saw as an exorbitant $7m (£4.3m) pay package. On Monday, Mr Clarke jumped overboard, albeit with a none-too-shabby pay-off of at least $925,000. That said, most of Mr Clarke's share options are underwater due to price falls.

On Tuesday, HSBC's chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, saw part of his bonus go as the bank settled charges that money laundering had not been spotted due to failings in its control systems and processes. Mr Gulliver said that "under new senior leadership" (ie, his), HSBC was solving those problems.

On Wednesday, Stagecoach rejected claims that a US joint venture was anti-competitive. The news came just two days after boss Sir Brian Souter sold more than £1.1m of shares.